Cleveland Indians Acquire Jim Thome from Minnesota Twins

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - AUGUST 22: Jim Thome #25 of the Minnesota Twins reacts to a called third strike in the fifth inning against the Baltimore Orioles on August 22, 2011 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Orioles defeated the Twins 4-1. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Of course, most of the time the player to be named later is inconsequential. The only time we have seen otherwise was in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, where Drew Pomeranz was the later-named player.

The reason was that Pomeranz was not allowed to be traded until August 15th. In this case, however, expect the player to be a low-to-mid-level prospect.

The Indians originally drafted Thome in the 13th round of the 1989 draft. In 2002, he decided to sign a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies who traded him to the Chicago White Sox in 2005. The White Sox dealt him to the Dodgers in 2009, and the Twins signed him in 2010 before trading him back to Cleveland.

What a journey!

Most journeymen accomplish very little and end up as bench players, but Thome has reached the 600 home run club. In fact, he hit 25 home runs last year.

Not bad for a journeyman.

It was rumoured that Thome's first choice was to go to Philadelphia (who has a better chance at a title this year), but Philadelphia was not interested, as they had already acquired a hitter (Hunter Pence). So Thome, who has a full no-trade clause, decided to waive it to go back to where it all began for him.

With all of his accomplishments, Thome will be a Hall-of-Famer.

It is not a question of if, it is a question of when. He turns 41 on August 27, and it is a very big possibility that he will retire at the end of this year.

Sadly, it is highly unlikely that Cleveland will make the playoffs this (or next) year, so if he does decide to come back for another season, it will not be with the Indians.

As for how often he'll play, with Travis Hafner hitting the disabled list there is a very real possibility that he will be in the lineup as the everyday DH until Hafner returns.

It is also possible that Hafner is out for the rest of the year. If that is the case, then Thome will play quite often.